The New Zealand Curriculum Online Site Managers Christina Ward and Jane Nicholls recently wrapped up their 3-town breakfast seminar tour, having kicked off their CORE breakfast seminar series in Dunedin earlier in the year.

Presenting to audiences in Christchurch, Hamilton and Wellington from the 18-21 September, the Supporting curriculum design and review series introduced findings from recent research on school curriculum development successes and challenges. In addition, it explored key aspects of NZC Online, and discussed ways schools use online resources to encourage conversations and learning.

It came following the Designing your school curriculum with NZC Online seminar, which they presented in Dunedin in March.

Christina and Jane’s sessions were directed at and attracted school leaders and middle leaders, those with responsibility for developing and supporting The New Zealand Curriculum within schools, and professional learning facilitators working within schools on curriculum review and development.

Feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with one Christchurch seminar attendee describing the presentation as “informative”, and adding “..the chance to meet the faces behind the website is always helpful. One is more likely to use the 'contact us' feature with questions etc.”

For presenter Jane Nicholls, the highlight was being able to introduce and further explain resources that attendees may or may not know exist on TheNZC website. “The breakfast series was a great opportunity to share the rich resources on NZC Online, and for us to showcase our work,” said Jane. “I think the series was well received,” she added.

Having guided the development of New Zealand Curriculum Online since its launch in 2007, Christina and Jane have worked with the Ministry of Education, school leadership and national professional learning networks to provide a rich array of research, resources and opportunities for curriculum learning and sharing.

Christina and Jane both have extensive teaching experience, prior to joining CORE. Jane was formerly a deputy principal, ICT facilitator and an eFellow, while Christina has an extensive background in online community development, and educational writing and publishing both in print and online.